Brigham train depot haunting investigated

Bryon Saxton

BRIGHAM CITY — Being a part-time ghost hunter gives Nick Riggs, of Logan, an adrenaline rush he gets from nothing else.

During his two years of ghost hunting, 28 year-old Riggs has been touched three different times by someone, or something, from beyond.

That includes one time in which he was brushed on the bare leg while wearing shorts by what he suspects was a “ghost cat” rubbing up against his leg.

“It was crazy,” Riggs said of the occurrence some people have had a difficult time believing.

But no matter. Riggs, founder of Cache Valley Paranormal, is as busy as ever, most recently conducting, along with his team, a ghost hunt of the historic Brigham City Depot, 833 W. Forest St.

On July 13, from 8 p.m. to 1 a.m. Riggs and four of his team members recorded sights and sounds at the old train station, most of their work centering around two train cars out in back of the museum.

“Inside, we did a little bit of investigating. But the two (train) cars out back is where we got all of our footage and activity,” said Riggs, lead investigator and spokesman for the group.

“We caught some really good stuff on the DVR we had set up,” Riggs said, the pitch in his voice rising with excitement in recounting the night in which one of the train car doors opened, and the group’s trigger doll — a doll modified with an electromagnetic field meter — changed positions on its own.

But it wasn’t until his team decided to call it a night and went to put the camera equipment away, Riggs said, that one of their tripods moved.

“It was pretty crazy,” Riggs said.

For two years Riggs and his team, all living in Cache Valley, have been ghost hunting.

The team members, identified by first name only to protect their identity, are Colby; Carson, aka Clay; Josh; Jason; and Adam.

Riggs said he initially became interested in becoming a ghost hunter after watching the television series with the same name.

“We do houses, buildings. If anyone has any problems going on at their place, we go for free in helping them out," he said.

The group has investigated 15 different sites, most of them in the Box Elder/Cache Valley area. The team has recorded sights and sounds at the old Union Station in Ogden, and have a few Ogden area sites scheduled in the near future.

“We’re willing to come to wherever anyone is concerned about,” he said.

Nothing goes into the group’s pockets, Riggs said, as it has been able to pay for its equipment through funding it receives from fans.

And in return, what do the ghost hunters receive for their service?

“It’s a big adrenaline rush,” Riggs said of the excitement of sitting in the dark and waiting to either hear or feel something.

“I have had something touch the back of my neck. I have had something touch my arm and my legs,” he said. “There has been some scary stuff happen, but nothing I have ever run away from.”

Riggs admits there have been times when he has been frightened, but he says he has to stand his ground if he’s going to record the footage people will to want to see.

His team has yet to encounter any ghosts sending off negative feelings toward them, Riggs said, including their most recent recordings at the Brigham City Depot.

But that is subject to change.

Cache Valley Paranormal is scheduled to record at the old abandoned Montana State Prison in Deer Lodge on Sept. 23. Riggs said the group may encounter some negative feelings in the prison, which has been abandoned since 1969.

To cover costs for that trip, Riggs said, his team is selling raffle tickets for a lucky fan to join them.

“We go in there based on a scientific aspect,” he said, describing the scope of their work. “We don’t do medium work.”

It is too difficult to determine a presence of ghosts based on the word of a medium, Riggs said, and the group bases its conclusions on scientific data it has been able to record.

“We don’t fake anything. If its not there, it’s not there. But if it is there, we show (the landowner or operator) what we’ve got,” Riggs said.

Those interested can contact Cache Valley Paranormal on Facebook. To view the video, click here.